THE SECULAR CIRCULAR Newsletter of the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara

Transcription

1 THE SECULAR CIRCULAR Newsletter of the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara SEPTEMBER 2013 September Program: Cannabis as Medication or Remedy Jamie Merrick In spite of federal government classification of marijuana as a Schedule I narcotic, there are numerous medical benefits of cannabis. Our discussion will touch upon the diversity of ways to prepare and consume medical cannabis; dosage and identification of applicable strains; how and where to legally acquire or cultivate medical cannabis; how a qualified medical cannabis patient is protected by Proposition 215 and SB 420; the pros and cons of indoor vs. outdoor grown cannabis. Jamison "Jamie" Merrick has been a medical cannabis advocate since 1991 and a medical cannabis patient since In 2005 after SB 420 was passed in California regulating the medical cannabis voters initiative 215, he left the natural food industry to pursue a career in providing safe access to cannabis to qualified medical patients. He attended Oaksterdam University in Oakland, the oldest cannabis college in California where he achieved the academic honor of valedictorian of the advanced curriculum. He worked his way up to CEO of one of the three licensed medical cannabis dispensaries in Santa Barbara CA. He currently works as personal assistant and resides in Santa Barbara. When: Saturday, September 21, 2013 Where: Patio Room at Vista del Monte. (Park ONLY in spaces marked "VDM".) Time: Doors open at 2:30pm. Program begins at 3:00 pm Cost: $2 members/$5 non-members Dinner: Vista del Monte. $22 includes tax and tip. RSVP judithannfontana@yahoo.com or For More Info: Activities@SantaBarbaraHumanists.org or call 769-HSSB

2 2 The HSSB Secular Circular -- September 2013 Welcome New Members! John Douglas, Goleta Marcus Plaut, Ventura John Wester, Santa Barbara Activities Judy Fontana Don't forget to join us for dinner following the September 21 HSSB program at Vista del Monte. This month's menu consists of Chicken, Rice Pilaf, Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower, Tomato Provencal, Assorted Desserts, Beverages and wine. And all for the unbelievable price of $22 per person including tax and tip. Please RSVP to or call Cheers. Notable Humanist Richard Martin As announced at our August general meeting, the latest member to be selected as our Notable Humanist is Meredith McMinn. Meredith has brought theater to the HSSB, first with readings from the speeches of Robert Ingersoll at the Richard Martin, Meredith McMinn Faulkner Gallery in October of For the past three Julys, she has directed productions of Steve Allen's Meeting of Minds at the Fé Bland Forum at SBCC. In addition to her directing work, she has also acted in two of those productions, as Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire and Margaret Sanger, American birth control activist, and founder of Planned Parenthood. Thank you Meredith from all of us who have much enjoyed the productions you have directed, and your acting in those productions. These have been some of our most popular meetings for which you are largely responsible. From the President Richard Martin Last month the Secular Circular ran the Geert Wilders New York speech from 2008 about the large immigration of Muslims into Europe and the UK in recent decades. Wilders cites what he regards as major cultural problems caused by this immigration, because Muslims want to establish not just their religion, but also the culture and political ideology of Islam (sharia law) in European countries. There is less concern about this issue in the US. One obvious reason is that the demographics are much different in Europe and the UK. According to a Pew Research Center study in 2009, Muslims made up about 23% of the world population. Muslims accounted for 5-10% of the populations of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland in 2009, and in the UK the Muslim population was about 5% as of These percentages range from over 6 times those in the US (0.8% Muslim) to higher, depending on the country. In Wilders' Netherlands the percent is 7.5 times higher than in the US. Would we be just as concerned if our Muslim percent population was as high as that of the Netherlands? What problems and behaviors that Wilders describes as due to the resistance to cultural assimilation by Muslims are serious, and should they be of concern to us? And is Islam "A

3 The HSSB Secular Circular -- September Totalitarian Package of Religion and Politics"? That is the title of an article by Madeline Weld in the August/September issue of the humanist magazine Free Inquiry. In her introduction she says: "Declare emphatically that among currently existing religions, Islam presents a clear and present danger in a way that other religions do not, and you just might set off a 'religious war' in the humanist community - or at least a hugely heated debate. That fundamentalist Muslims are of no more concern than fundamentalist Christians or orthodox believers of other stripes is for some humanists - dare I say it - an article of faith". Weld comes to the opposite conclusion. A few years ago our Book Club read Samuel Huntington's 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order. Huntington's thesis was that following the end of the Cold War in 1989, the future clash of civilizations would be primarily about cultures, and he said that the most important aspect of a culture is its religion. A 1991 US Muslim Brotherhood document on establishing Islam in North America advocates "destroying the Western Civilization from within" and "presenting Islam as a civilization alternative". Of course Islam is not monolithic. There are even some Islam reform movements in the US such as the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. But these movements are small and are not accepted by mainstream Islam in the US. What do you think about Islam and related subjects? Member's letters to the editor of the Secular Circular on these or other subjects are welcome. Letters to SC Editor Whoa, what's with the Islamophobic rant? I was just reading about the 2011 attacks in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik, an extreme right-wing, antifeminist, anti-immigration terrorist, so perhaps the rhetoric in the HSSB article struck a particular chord, but Muslim men are "slave owners"??? Really? Honestly the writer [Geert Wilders] has such a clearly bigoted ax to grind it's impossible to take anything he says with any serious, objective consideration. I thought the humanist society was a place where one would find skepticism toward, not promotion of, conspiratorial worldviews. Heidi Kent. Although I almost always disagree with religious fundamentalists of all stripes on political matters, my view of humanism does not include bigotry, vilification and hatred of ethnic and religious groups, and mindless, knee-jerk support for the government policies of a virtually theocratic country that has engaged in brutal oppression and ethnic cleansing of its native inhabitants since the establishment of the country. I am absolutely not "like-minded" to the toxic speech by Geert Wilders published in your [August] newsletter. Inclusion of that lie-filled, xenophobic speech in your newsletter does not suggest that the society that publishes it is a "friendly" group at all. I was surprised to read that kind of extremist Islamophobic filth in a humanist society newsletter, and if the views expressed in it are the position of the SB Humanist Society, I doubt that I will be a member for long. Just because Mr. Coppejans, who I assume is a member of HSSB, submitted the article containing the speech does not mean that it is worthy of publication, particularly by an organization that defines its core values as embracing "a rational philosophy... motivated by compassion," "social and planetary responsibility," "standing for human rights and social justice," etc. Change a few of the names, and that hysterical speech sounds straight from the Third Reich. John Douglas To Publish or Not to Publish Roger Schlueter, Dick Cousineau The August issue of the Secular Circular contained the transcript of a speech given by Gert Wilders to the Facing Jihad Conference held in New York in This was a controversial speech in 2008 and remains so today.

4 4 The HSSB Secular Circular -- September 2013 Including this transcript in our newsletter was also controversial. A number of people expressed concerns that the speech is not concordant with Humanist principles and thus should not have been published. More specifically, as stated in one e- mail, the speech consisted of... bigotry, vilification and hatred of ethnic and religious groups, and mindless, knee-jerk support for the government policies of a virtually theocratic country.... These values are not Humanist values. However, we do subscribe to a larger set of principles among which the following are relevant here: We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities. We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open to novel ideas and seek new departures to our thinking. Not surprisingly then, we have a conflict between the various principles that we Humanists hold dear. Thus, it was a judgment call as to how to proceed and the editor of that issue (Roger Schlueter) decided to favor openness. That being the case, the validity of an emphasis on a different subset of principles is evident. Thoughtful Humanists will have an honest difference of opinion on how to proceed. As Madeline Weld stated in the Aug/Sep issue of Free Inquiry, Because Islam is not just a religion but a totalitarian political system, and a religion, it is felt that it presents a clear and present danger in a way that other religions do not. We believe that to respond to its political arm s non-assimilative nature and its attempt to set up laws different from its host country, that it is well within the limits of reasonable criticism. Even if Wilder s speech contains more than that, it does not negate his right to comment upon their political side. While this is a multi-faceted matter, three thoughts prevailed in the decision-making: 1. Wilders would have Islam censored. Islam would censor Wilders. Humanists disagree vehemently with both of them so going in the opposite direction, namely openness, seemed the right approach. 2. John Coppejans (who requested the transcript be published) has personally seen the ravages of fanaticism so his perspective on the issue deserves more weight than might otherwise be the case. 3. There is an important difference between publishing such a speech and endorsing the contents. The former is required by our value of openness while recognizing that the content itself is NOT congruent with Humanist principles. Now, it could be argued that, given that content, we (our Humanist Society) have no obligation to publish Wilders speech. This is a valid perspective and is one point in which differing opinions will exist. From The Big Bang To The Higgs Boson Robert Bernstein Jeff Richman, our August speaker, may be a physics professor dealing with the most exciting questions of the nature of reality, but he is actually very down to earth and practical in his thinking. His father was an experimental physicist (who worked on the Manhattan Project), so Jeff grew up seeing physics instruments as everyday objects. The Higgs Boson was big news last year and Richman played an important role in that news. He is one of 30 physicists, engineers and technicians from UCSB working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN research center near Geneva. He has racked up a million miles of travel getting there and back. What are hadrons? Things like protons and neutrons in the nucleus of atoms that are made out of quarks. The two other categories of elementary particles are photons and things like electrons (leptons).

5 The HSSB Secular Circular -- September He started with the amusing observation that the letters UCSB give a good start on remembering the names of the six quarks: Up, Charm, Strange, Bottom. Down and Top fill in the other two types. He showed a cartoon making light of a real concern of some people. Space aliens stand at the controls of an LHC just before our Big Bang, not realizing they are about to unwittingly create our universe by accident. A powerful accelerator like the LHC does in a way take us back to an instant just after the Big Bang when the universe was so hot that everything was at the energy found in the LHC. What is different now is that then the universe was expanding at a far greater rate than now. And the entire universe was packed into a small space. The particles in the LHC are very sparse by comparison. How high is the LHC energy? 14 trillion electron volts, the equivalent of almost a trillion 1.5 volt batteries wired together. The tiny puff of hydrogen ions (protons) whizzing around the LHC has the same energy as a 747 taking off! So what is the Higgs Boson that was the target of the search at the LHC? It is a particle that provides strong evidence for a specific mechanism that gives mass to the fundamental particles. Dr. Richman made an analogy to how photons carry the force that we call the electric and the magnetic fields. He did a beautiful demonstration of that force with the assistance of Robin Hamlin. Robin held a small, powerful magnet next to a copper tube. No attraction. But when she dropped the magnet down the tube, it fluttered down like a feather demonstrating that the magnet induces an electric field in the copper pipe due to its motion. The magnetic and electric fields play off each other, exchanging photons all the while. In a similar way, the Higgs Boson creates a field that slows down the movement of all matter that we observe as the Dr. Jeffrey Richman effects of mass. He used the analogy of Margaret Thatcher crossing a room and being slowed in her movement by all the people trying to interact with her. The LHC does its search by colliding vast numbers of protons together: about 600 million per second per experiment, creating a huge number of pictures, which would pretty quickly fill up even the biggest memory card! But very smart software and hardware discards most of these pictures, keeping about per second. A year or so is required to analyze these, taking that long to accumulate enough data to verify the findings are real. It was once said that using a particle accelerator is like smashing two fine Swiss watches into each other and trying to understand the watches by looking at the springs and gears that fly out. But Richman explained it is more like smashing watches together and having tennis rackets fly out. Entirely new objects are created that were never there originally. The LHC is not just about the Higgs, though. Over 200 physics papers have been published. There may even be more than one Higgs particle. There is also a search for super symmetry particles predicted by some theories. Most exciting now is the search for possible dark matter particles. These make up five times more of the universe than all of the ordinary matter that we are familiar with. It is not likely they'll find the elusive gravity particle, the graviton. In the coming decade we may detect gravity waves, but probably not individual gravitons. One of the more surprising results of the LHC? Back in March 1989 a CERN researcher named

6 6 The HSSB Secular Circular -- September 2013 Tim Berners-Lee published a proposal on how to coordinate the vast data sharing that would be required by the planned LHC. His proposal was adopted and resulted into what we now call the World Wide Web, built on the concept of "hypertext", (the HT in HTTP)! It has given us everything from Google, Wikipedia and Facebook to revolutions in North Africa and may be one of the biggest legacies of the LHC! Thanks very much to Dr Jeff Richman for his pioneering physics work that is helping us to understand the nature of our universe. And special thanks to him for making this work understandable to the thoughtful people of the Humanist Society! [Dr. Richmans' slides can be found online at: manistsociety_17august2013.pptx] Movies for Humanists Diane Krohn There are a few movies out there that might be considered humanist. But in addition to Inherit the Wind, Religulous, and The God Who Wasn t There, can you think of others? Have you seen any recent movies that would be considered examples with humanist or non-theist themes or characters? How about an old favorite that you can return to again and again because it s a good example of humanist values, or perhaps shows the problems with magical thinking? Please submit your reviews to The Secular Circular! editor@santabarbarahumanists.org. This month s movie: The Big Country (1958), starring Gregory Peck, Carroll Baker, Jean Simmons, Chuck Connors, Burl Ives, and Charleton Heston. Gregory Peck plays a retired sea captain, James McKay, who relocates from the east coast to the American west to be with his fiancée, Patricia. Her father, Major Terrill, owns a large ranch, but he has been involved in a long-time feud with a neighboring ranch owner, Rufus Hannassey. Patricia s friend, Julie, owns another large adjoining ranch, The Big Muddy, which provides vital water for the Hannassey s and the Terrill s cattle. Major Terrill has tried to keep the Hannasseys from using the water. McKay comes up with an equitable solution for both families, but the long-time feud between Major Terrill and Rufus Hannassey finally comes to a tragic end. Several instances come up where McKay is put into a situation where his manhood is questioned, or at stake. But McKay has learned that violence is not a solution to problems, and he does not need to prove his competence or masculinity to anyone else. He is confident in his own intelligence and skills. He navigates The Big Muddy on his own, using instrumentation (map and compass), despite everyone telling him that it s a big country, and it would be easy for him to get lost. He is honest and treats all people that he encounters with civility unless he is truly forced into behaving otherwise. And he never prays to god for help or guidance! For a movie that was made in the 1950 s, I was surprised and pleased at the humanist values demonstrated by the main male character in a movie western. Church and State Roger Schlueter In 2009, Judd Birdsall, a former US diplomat who served at the State Department in the Office of International Religious Freedom, started an informal discussion forum that was to become known as the Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group. The group s discussion focused on the role of religion in international relations. By late last year, this group had evolved into a more formal entity that sought to engage more closely with faith communities around the world to help solve global challenges. They produced a white paper recommending to the Secretary of State that a "National Capacity", an official mechanism within the State Department, be created to provide guidance on the role of religion in foreign affairs. Specifically, their own Working Group would be institutionalized.

7 The HSSB Secular Circular -- September The Capacity was recommended to be seated at the National Security Council and was to, among other things, design a "national strategy for religious engagement. At first glance this seems like a good idea. It is certainly true that religion plays a key - maybe even a defining - role in other nations politics. Thus, a better understanding of the relationship between intra-national and international politics and religion around the globe would be in our own best interest. Further consideration, however, yields some disturbing concerns. While the recommendations include a development of guidelines for complying with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment it is not clear how this could be possible. How can a federal agency designed to focus on only religion comport with the Establishment Clause? A second concern is how the USA will select which religions deserve our formal engagement through the State Department. Will we recognize Scientology in France but not in Germany where it has been legally determined to not be a religion? Will we recognize minor religions such as Wicca or Vodun or even Ordo Aurum Solis? How will we deal with religions that are not formally recognized by their national government yet have a presence in that country? These are not insignificant considerations in diplomatic circles. More importantly, picking religious winners and losers is exactly what the Establishment Clause prohibits. From our own perspective, where is Humanism in this effort? Where is Atheism? A significant portion of the world s population subscribes to no religious belief at all.. Why should they be left out of the diplomatic consideration? I think the overarching ideals behind this effort are laudable but, as usual, the devil is in the details. Humanists beware! Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies. -Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, philosopher ( ) Praying on School Grounds On the front page of the August 15th Santa Barbara News Press, with the heading of "Back to School", there appeared a photo of a gathering of Santa Ynez Valley High School students around the school's flagpole in prayer. Was this use of a public school facility a violation of church-state separation? Roger Schlueter points out the phenomenon known as "See You at the Pole", (SYATP), is an informal gathering of Christian students meeting for prayer at their school's flagpole at the start of school. It is a world-wide phenomena. US courts have ruled that such prayers organized by the students themselves are allowed and protected by free speech rights. For more about SYATP, see Another Website for the HSSB Richard Martin Most Humanist and other secular groups in California are run as Meetup groups. Meetup is an online social media site, analogous to sites such as Facebook. However it is quite different than those sites because it "uses the Internet to get people off the Internet". Meetups exist to make it easy for people to get together, by members announcing events on the site, for members to RSVP to events, to have discussions online about events, etc. With HSSB Board approval, I recently set up a private Meetup site for HSSB members, with the name Santa Barbara Humanists. This is in addition to our regular website. The online address is The first events should be on the site by the time you read this, or shortly thereafter. Go there. Sign up. Be one of the pioneer members of the SBH! The first 25 people to join will be given a gold star for their HSSB name badge! (Disclaimer: The gold star has not been approved by the Board.)

8 8 The HSSB Secular Circular -- September 2013 Letter to Santa Barbara News Press The article published on 8/24/13 regarding the problems of having Non-theistic chaplains (counselors) appointed to the Military was of interest to Humanists in Santa Barbara County. Also of note were the humorous comments attributed to Christian Republicans in the Congress of this Country, who stated that the term 'Atheist Chaplain' is an oxymoron. This view is based upon the misconception by uneducated persons that Atheists and Humanists have no ethical or moral values. Such a concept could not be further from the truth. While, we may not have a 'spiritual inclination' or Sky God beliefs, we certainly have an honest and logical moral system based upon the Golden Rule and Tolerance for all Tolerant peoples. It is now well known that there are innumerable "Atheists in Foxholes" and they too may need moral counseling, as do religious adherents, regarding their combat experiences in watching their compatriots being wounded or killed. Also with their own killing and wounding of the enemies of the US. These young people are no different from any soldiers in feelings of fear, thoughts of leaving the combat area and going home, and moral questions of their actions. I suggest that all people being asked to take part in a killing War be offered moral counseling, if requested, as they would treatment for their physical wounds, whether they be religious or nonreligious. Dick Cousineau What's Going on Here? Andrew Hankin, still there A judge in the US has ordered a baby's first name to be changed from Messiah to Martin. The parents of seven-month old Messiah DeShawn Martin had gone to court in Tennessee over his last name. But Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew ordered the first name changed too, local broadcaster WBIR-TV said. Last year more than 700 babies were named Messiah in the US, according to the Social Security Administration. The judge in Cocke County said the name Messiah could cause the boy difficulties if he grew up in such a predominantly Christian area. Instead she ordered that the baby was to be named Martin DeShawn McCullough, which includes both parents' last name. "The word Messiah is a title and it's a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ," the judge added. Full story: A new study published by the University of Tennessee at Chatanooga identifies six types of atheists. Briefly, they are. 1) Intellectual atheist/agnostic: seeks information and intellectual stimulation about atheism; likes debating and arguing, particularly on popular Internet sites. 2) Activist: not content with just disbelieving in God; wants to tell others why society would be better off if we all did likewise. 3) Seeker-agnostic: unsure about the existence of a God but keeps an open mind and recognizes the limits of human knowledge and experience. 4) Anti-theist: outspoken, devoted and at times confrontational about their disbelief. 5) Non-theists, the smallest group: do not involve themselves with either religion or anti-religion, sometimes come across as apathetic or disinterested. 6) Ritual atheist: finds useful the teachings of some religious traditions; for many, their adherence to ritual may stem from family traditions. See:

9 The HSSB Secular Circular -- September Non-HSSB Events of Interest Diane Krohn Upcoming Events in California: September 14: Fifth Annual Atheist Film Festival, at the Roxie Theatre in San Francisco. The Atheist Film Festival's 5th annual showing features The Revisionaries, a film about a Texas School board's attempt to advance a creationist agenda; Kumaré, where one man explores what happens when you create a fake religion; and Sophia Investigates the Good News Club, exposing the Child Evangelism Fellowship infiltrating public schools. September 15: Prof. B. Lynn Ingram: Megafloods and Atmospheric River Storms in the American West: What the Past Tells Us About Tomorrow. Center for Inquiry West, Los Angeles and Costa Mesa. Upcoming Events Outside of California: August 30-September 2: The Atheist Alliance of America 2013 National Convention. Featuring Paula Apsell, Steven Pinker, Edwina Rogers, and many others. Special guest: Rebecca Vitsmun and family of Moore, Oklahoma (the woman interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN following the OK tornado). Boston, MA. September 20-22: Apostacon: A mid-west freethought conference. Speakers include Rebecca Knief, Teresa Macbain, Darrel Ray, Katherine Stewart and of course, many others. Omaha, NE. September 27-28: Freedom from Religion Foundation s 36th Annual National Convention. Featuring Dan Barker, Zack Kopplin, Julia Sweeney, and many others. Madison, WI. HSSB Contact Information Officers: President: Richard Martin president@santabarbarahumanists.org Secretary: Suzanne Spillman secretary@santabarbarahumanists.org Treasurer: Colin Gordon treasurer@santabarbarahumanists.org Board Members at Large: Wayne Beckman David Echols Judy Fontana Mary Wilk Newsletter Editor: Diane Krohn Editor@santabarbarahumanists.org Newsletter Deadline: Deadline for submissions to the Secular Circular is midnight, the last day of each month. HSSB meetings are held on the 3rd Saturday of each month at 2:30 pm, usually in the Patio Room of Vista del Monte, 3775 Modoc Rd., Santa Barbara. More information is available at our web site: At meetings, a donation of $2 from members and $5 from nonmembers is appreciated. First-time visitors are welcome on a complimentary basis. Annual HSSB membership dues are $36 for a single person, $60 for a couple, and $100 (or more) to become a Society Supporter. One may subscribe to our newsletter only for an annual fee of $20. To join HSSB, please send your contact information and a check for your membership dues to HSSB, PO Box 30232, Santa Barbara, CA 93130, Attn: Mary Wilk. For membership information contact Mary Wilk at , or mwilk@cox.net. Copies of this newsletter are posted on the HSSB website. Photos are on the website and available via the link bara See us on Facebook::

10 10 The HSSB Secular Circular -- September 2013 HSSB Calendar Tuesday, September 17. Board Meeting, 5:30pm. Home of Mary Wilk. Members invited to attend. Saturday, September 21. Monthly Meeting. Jamie Merrick. Cannabis as Medication or Remedy. Vista Del Monte, Patio Room, 2:30pm. Sunday, September 29. (and the last Sunday of every month),10am, Secular Sunday Brunch for humanists, atheists, agnostics, skeptics, freethinkers, singles, couples and families without religion. No cover charge; membership not required. Pay only for your food, drink and tips. Cody's Cafe, 4898 Hollister Ave. in the Turnpike Center, Goleta in the room to the right as you enter the restaurant. For information phone Board member, Mary Wilk at Saturday, October 19. Monthly Meeting. Professor Joe White, Modern Developments in Philosophy. Saturday, November 16. Monthly Meeting. Jason Torpy, Discrimination in the Military. Saturday, December 21. Winter Solstice Party! Humanist Society of Santa Barbara PO Box Santa Barbara, CA 93130